BEDWORTH  3 - 37  HEREFORD

Rectory Fields, Saturday 25 October 2003, 3pm

Powergen Midlands 2 West League

Hereford gave an exhilarating second half display to claim a thoroughly deserved away win at Bedworth. 

The first half was spent with each side trying to get the ascendancy. Bedworth struck first in the fourth minute from a penalty for offside. Stewart kicked the 3 points.

Hereford came straight back and some good work from captain Andy Johnson secured the ball form the lineout and the resulting drive caught the Bedworth back row off side. Colin Osborne equalled the score form the resulting kick after 14 minutes. 

Bedworth continued to try to dominate the game but good defensive work from Ben Jenkins and Matthew Pritchard in particular broke down any attack and turned the advantage Hereford's way. Another penalty for offside saw Osborne kick a further 3 points and Hereford went in 6-3 up at the break. 

The second half started well for Hereford. They started to win good ball. The front row played very well and with Dave Thomas playing only his second game at hooker, he was ably supported by Ben Hillstead and Andy Mason. He took one against the head, threw the ball in the lines very well to help secure all Hereford's line out ball for the first time this season and added a bit of bulk to the pack.

Substantial pressure from Hereford almost paid off on several occasions but Bedworth held firm. Excellent runs from Charlie Langford almost set up Walker for a score. Eventually the pressure told and after 10 minutes Bedworth were penalised for not releasing in the tackle and Osborne kicked Hereford into a 9-3 lead. Hereford seemed to gain in confidence from this point and the tries were not long in coming. A good lineout won by the hugely impressive Jamie Bullock who came on at half time, Jenkins distributed quickly to Langford who spun it through Osborne and Gary Preece who found Matthew Pritchard backing up to take the pass, beat two defenders and run in under the posts. Osborne kicked the conversion to make it 16-3.

There then followed an attack from defence that the players are capable of and finally with Andy Tanner’s experience completed. Jenkins took a quick penalty inside his own half; Langford brought Osborne into the line with pace. Osborne made 40 yards outside the Bedworth defence, found Langford backing up when stopped, who in turn found Richard Mayson who sprinted in under the posts. Osborne kicked the points to put Hereford into a comfortable 23-3 lead.

Hereford now were running everything and a neat chip from Preece forced a 5-metre scrum. The referee, who controlled the game very well, judged Bedworth to have deliberately stopped the ball coming out and a penalty try was awarded. Osborne kicked the points. 30-3. It was all Hereford in the last 5 minutes and both Will McQuaid and Bullock almost got over but were held up on the line. From the ensuing scrum Osborne went through to score a try which he duly converted to give himself a personal tally of 20 points for the match.

Hereford’s Chairman Guy Griffiths said, “The players have hard an unfortunate start to the season. They have taken time to find their form. With virtually the same team as one that started the season against Bromsgrove they were 100% better. The major factor has been discipline and self-belief. They showed both of these today and they regard it as a platform for the rest of the season.”